Correspondence
by Thee Angel Of Music
Summary: After being abandoned by her parents, a bond forms between Rey and Ben Solo. What will she do when she discovers that the person she has trusted is Kylo Ren?
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I don't own Star Wars. In the first flashback Rey is 5 and Ben/Kylo is 15 and in the second flashback Rey is 16 and Ben/Kylo is 26.

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Rey would not have survived without him. The junkyard of Jakku would have destroyed her broken soul beyond repair. She needed him, perhaps even before she was abandoned by her parents. His guidance. His teachings. His voice. He helped her when everyone else had left.

He didn't want to talk to her at first but over time as he saw her struggles to stay alive, a bond formed between them. A bond that saved her life and a bond that kept Ben Solo alive. A bond that saved both of their souls.

On the night Kylo Ren was born and Rey was left to die by her parents, the force connected two souls who were once both set to live different lives. One was set to be a saviour, the other a monster: fortuitously, the roles were reversed.

_Her parents were gone. They had left her on a planet which she wasn't even sure the name of. She had no one. _

_Rey's tears streamed down her face and her sobbing grew louder as her fear grew more and more at the thought of being completely alone for the rest of her life. The buns in her hair were beginning to fall out and she began to worry that if her parents came back for her they wouldn't recognise her. Consumed with alarm it took her a few minutes to realise that her crying was mingled with someone elses and she felt a warmth surround her as though suddenly her cries for help had been answered. She stopped, looking around but saw nothing. It seemed like it was coming from in front of her. _

_Her first thought was that it was her parents but they were gone. _

_"Hello?" She called out into the darkness. _

_"Who are you? How did you get here?" A voice answered menacingly._

_Rey saw no one but felt eye's on her. "The man... He said I could stay here," she trembled in fear, she would never be safe again. But Rey saw no one and yet felt a presence nearby. _

_"You're not here, are you? No, this is something else," Rey felt him staring at her and then heard, "Who are you?" He asked, curious now at who this girl was but his voice still laced with menace. _

_Should she lie? No, he would know. "I'm Rey, who are you?" She questioned. _

_"I'm... I don't know who I am," and this time there was no menace in the voice-only misery. _

_And just like that, the emotion she felt disappeared and Rey was left alone once more but as she finally fell asleep she could feel comfort surround her in the back of her mind as if, perhaps, she wasn't alone after all. _

Nearly 15 years later as Rey reached out with the force in search of the voice, she felt that familiar comfort.

"Still got no name?" Rey asked as she finished her food.

"Not one that you would like. How many portions did you get today?"

"3 portions, it was a good day," and she smiled weakly as she thought about spending the next day resting for a little while but her smile disappeared at the thought of returning to her inevitable work.

She could feel him sigh, "soon we'll be together I promise, I just need more time."

"I know. That's why I stay here but I want to leave, I feel like I'm suffocating, imprisoned on this planet. I have to know why my parents left me here," her voice became strained as she said, "I need to know what my purpose is in this galaxy."

He didn't speak and Rey began to wonder if he was still there. "As long as you are on Jakku I can protect you, I can come back for you but if you leave I won't be able to help you find your parents. I have to go now but soon, I'll come back sweetheart I promise." Then Rey felt a cool touch on her forehead. Like a kiss.

She remembered when he had come to Jakku and how he acted when he saw her home and when he left her.

_He looked around her small home and he began to softly cry. He had looked so strange as though he had become a different person and he had looked at her like she was broken and despite feeling it for so long, it was the first time that Rey had truly accepted it. She was broken but as she stared into his eyes she began to wonder if maybe he was too. As their eyes met, light and dark whirled. When they touched hands, the force became balanced_

_"I can't leave you here," he said as his time with her began to end, "I'll come back sweetheart I promise," kissing her forehead and then turning to leave. Rey followed him outside and as he entered his ship he mouthed the words "I promise" before the doors closed behind him, leaving Rey alone under the gloom of Jakku's sun._

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A/N: Hi everyone! This was quite a short chapter and is more of a prologue as I just wanted to set up the relationship before the events of The Force Awakens (which is where the next chapter will start at) so the next chapters won't have as many flashbacks to Rey on Jakku but there will be more about when Kylo visited Rey on Jakku and what he told her. I really hope you liked this chapter and constructive criticism is welcomed! Please review!


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: I don't own Star Wars. Thank you Guest for your review on the last chapter and thank you to everyone who read, followed and favorited!

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"You may try," the old man told him, "but you cannot deny the truth that is your family."

"So true."The monster within Kylo Ren came to life as his temper erupted into an orchestra of brutality and flames, killing the old man in front of him. Beneath the mask, Kylo struggled to gain control and was suddenly willing to kill all around him. In the next moment, he stopped a weapon's discharge in mid-air, the man was brought before him and made to kneel by two stormtroopers. As he looked at the clothing of the man and the expression on his face Kylo knew. _Resistance_. "Who talks first?" The man sneered, "Do you talk first? Do I talk first?" As though tempting Kylo to kill him before he could be searched, he was tempted.

"Search him," Kylo ordered the stormtroopers when they found nothing, he ordered them to send the man alive and intact onto the ship. He would question him about where the map was when he had regained more control as he feared he would kill the man before he could search his mind and find the map's location.

"Sir, the villagers?" Phasma questioned.

He could sense Rey but she was far away, she would be safe, "kill them all" he ordered.

The village would soon become a carcass; its futile remains a symbol of the fragility of the Republic and the evil which lurked within Kylo Ren.

Rey scratched a mark on the wall showing another day gone by still trapped on Jakku. She ate her food sanguinely as she looked out into the sky and watched ships leave the junkyard of Jakku. _Soon. He's coming back for me_.

He still hadn't told her his name and during her childhood she would always just call him 'voice' but after she met him she realised that he wasn't just a 'voice' and was a living, breathing person. It felt strange to call him 'voice' while they were speaking to each other and so Rey only referred to him like that in her thoughts and when she reached out to find him in the force.

Wanting to talk to the 'voice' about how long it would be until he came back for her she put on the Resistance helmet she had found as a child, it made her feel closer to him, knowing that he was out there fighting for the Resistance. She thought that he was a member of the Resistance because he would often talk to her about his annoyance at the way the Resistance was being led and what it was doing, Rey told him to change the Resistance and the voice had replied that he would. The week before he had told her that he was trying to find a map to Luke Skywalker and Rey knew that with the return of the last Jedi, it wouldn't be long before the First Order was destroyed. Then when the galaxy had become a better place, the future they both saw when they touched hands could become a reality. She began to reach out with the force but then she heard...

A droid. It needed help. Rey removed her helmet and grabbed her staff and rushed over to the droid. Teedo had captured a BB unit and she instantly knew that he would sell the droid for parts. She told Teedo that the droid belonged to her and told it to shush when it asked who she was. Rey spoke to the droid and fixed its antenna while explaining who Teedo was and what he had planned to do to the droid, before telling the droid how to get to the Niima Outpost.

The droid refused and asked if it could instead stay with her, at first she refused but then reluctantly she gave in to the droid, telling it that it could stay for one night. Talking to the voice could wait.

The next day Rey scavenged with the droid's assistance and found that it was useful in helping her to find important parts. When they went to Niima Outpost later that day, she told the droid not to give up on his owner as he would come back for the droid, BB8 asked who she was waiting for on Jakku and Rey replied, "I'm waiting for a friend. He's coming back for me though, once the First Order has been destroyed."

BB8 asked if he was with the resistance and Rey told him he was but that he most likely didn't know BB8. The droid didn't ask for her friend's name though and Rey was relieved. She wanted desperately to ask BB8 if it did know him, but she didn't even know his name. How could she ask? The droid would think she was mad waiting for someone whose name she didn't even know.

As Rey went for her portions Plutt offered to pay for the droid and at first she instinctively went for the portions however within seconds she knew she couldn't sell the droid. Telling Plutt that she was not desperate and that she valued the life of others.

Once they were away from Plutt, the droid began to beep madly at Rey, telling her that the man opposite them was wearing his master's jacket. Running towards him and raising her staff, the man began to run away but Rey soon caught up to him, causing him to collapse to the ground. "What's your hurry thief?"

"What?" He asked looking up at her.

"The jacket. This droid says that you stole it from his master."

"Poe Dameron?"

BB8 beeped at the mention of Poe's name. He told the droid that he had rescued Poe from the First Order but their ship had crashed and Poe hadn't ejected safely. "I tried to help him. I'm sorry BB8 but he's gone."

Rey looked at the man and saw that he was truthful, BB8's master had died and she became overwhelmed with sympathy for the droid. At the thought of losing the voice, Rey immediately searched the force for the feeling of warmth she felt which she associated with the voice, she found it and knew he was alright.

Then she realised. "So you're with the resistance?" Rey was stunned, she had heard legends and stories about them from travellers and sometimes from the voice. "My friend's a resistance pilot," _at least I hope he is._

Whenever she thought of him, she always imagined him as a Resistance pilot. He never revealed who he truly was to her but he had taught her so much about flying and was so passionate about ships that Rey thought he had to be a pilot. He knew ships better than anyone she had ever met and had told her where to find the most valuable parts of a ship could be found and what to do to find them. Without that guidance Rey did not believe she would have survived.

"Yeah, I'm with the Resistance. Obviously. I'm Finn." He said smiling at her.

"I'm Rey," she replied, "BB8 says that he's on a secret mission and needs to get back to the Resistance base."

"Apparently he's carrying a map to Luke Skywalker." Before Rey could reply BB8 began to beep wildly at them both.

The sequence of events which followed was like a dream, a terrifying, vivid and paralysing First Order was firing at them and all she had to escape was garbage.

When they had all escaped the First Order and were safely inside the ship, she told BB8 and Finn that she would take them to the Resistance base but then she would have to return to Jakku.

"Jakku?" Finn cried, "why would you want to go back to Jakku?"

The voice's words echoed in her mind._ "As long as you are on Jakku I can protect you, I can come back for you but if you leave I won't be able to help you find your parents. I have to go now but soon, I'll come back sweetheart I promise." _If he realised how she had fought against the First Order maybe she could prove to him that she didn't need to stay on Jakku, the First Order had tried to attack her there anyway. She could defend herself against the First Order. Maybe she could stay at the Resistance base.

"You got a boyfriend?" Finn said, pulling her out of her thoughts.

"No, but I've got to get back to Jakku. My friend told me to wait there but maybe when I get to the Resistance base I can stay. " She knew she would like it there, Finn seemed nice and she would be grateful to have another friend at the base.

"But that's your decision, not his?"

"He's going to help me find my family."

Finn looked at the floor and his voice lowered as he said: "And if it's not what you expect?"

The future she had seen with him would come true even if she didn't find her family. "Then we'll figure it out."

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A/N: This chapter was supposed to be a bit longer but I didn't want to go into great detail about the parts which are the same as in the Force Awakens.

The next chapter will be longer and I'm just going to skip over the part were Rey meets Han Solo, sees the map and goes to Maz's castle (including the force vision) as they would be just the same as to how they are shown in the movie and in the novel.

Chapter 3 will start from when Rey meets Kylo Ren for the first time on Takodana and will be different to how it is shown in the movie and this is where this fanfic will change from the movie/book. Chapter 3 will probably be uploaded by the end of this week. Please review and thank you for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Rey won't tell Han and Finn that she knows someone who wants the map and instead she would just plan to tell the voice later about BB8. This chapter starts from when Rey is in the forest on Takodana. Thank you for following and favoriting!

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As Rey held tightly to her blaster while surrounded by the endless woods of Takodana, she began to call in her mind to the voice. _Help me, you have to come and find me._ Instead of speaking to her like he usually did when she was on Jakku, he instead spoke to her inside her mind, _show me where you are._

Rey closed her eyes and tried to steady her rapidly increasing heartbeat as she tried to connect with him through the force and let him into her mind just as he had taught her to do. As she opened her eyes she knew he would be able to see her surroundings. _I see it, Rey, wait there, no harm will come to you I promise. _

His words reassured her even though she knew that the First Order was close and this time she had no ship to escape.

She wanted to move, to escape, but she knew that as long as she stayed where she was then the voice would help her. She jumped and turned towards any sound she heard around her, counting the seconds in an attempt to stop her rising panic.

She heard the sound of someone nearby and instantaneously whispered, "voice?", in a deep, rattling breath, hoping her saviour had arrived.

Her eyes widened as she realised that the voice was too late. Kylo Ren had found her. He was wielding a red lightsaber, like one the voice had shown her when she was a child, and as she fired her blaster, the shot was easily deflected, so she fired again. And again. Still, the lightsaber deflected the shots.

She began to cry in frustration but upon seeing this he raised a hand and held it towards her, causing the blaster to stop. She couldn't move. _Voice, help me, please he's going to kill me._

"I'm not going to kill you," the mechanical voice told her and realising he could read her mind, Rey immediately tried to close her mind but found she couldn' man moved closer until he brought his hand next to her face but not physically touching her as he looked through her mind, "the map you've seen it," he murmured softly.

Upon hearing this, Rey used all the strength she had to close her mind causing the man to recoil his hand as if he had been burnt. Relieved from the mental intrusion, Rey tried to control her breathing. "You're not going to ever see that map," she told him and she tried to sound strong but her voice betrayed her.

Suddenly Ren put his face so close to hers that the were almost touching.

"We'll see," he declared. She wanted to reply but found that she couldn't. He touched her face once more but again did not applying physical pressure and only turned slightly as a clutch of stormtroopers moved towards them.

"Sir, Resistance fighters!"

Still looking at Rey and not removing his hand, he said, "pull the division out. We have what we need."

Then Rey's world went black.

_"Who are you?" Rey asked the man in front of her. She had seen their future together yet it was only glimpses and she still struggled to understand who he was._

_"I'm just like you Rey," he replied nonchalantly._

_"No, but who are you? What's your name? Where do you live? What do you do?" She was becoming impatient, every time he spoke to her he always seemed to talk in riddles, she needed to know._

_He considered this and realised he couldn't continue not giving Rey answers. "I'm force-sensitive, like you and an apprentice in understanding the ways of the force. I rejected my old name. I live mostly in space and I'm __trying to make the galaxy a better place."_

_"Why do you teach me about the force?" She asked. _

_"You are strong with the ways of the force but untrained, with more guidance you could become a powerful force user."_

_Rey looked at the man in front of her, he was powerful. His clothes closely resembled that of a warrior, a ruler, a king, she looked at her own clothes and saw what they resembled. A scavenger. _

She woke to the voice pulling her into consciousness.

Her vision was blurred and she could only see the shape of him."Voice, is that you? How are you here?"

He was a few metres in front of her and appeared to be moving closer. As she tried to move towards him, Rey woke and realised that she was being held upright against an angled platform.

Then the memory of meeting the infamous Kylo Ren flooded into her mind. "You have to go! Kylo Ren's a monster he'll kill yo-"

"Do you trust me, Rey?"

_Why was he asking her this right now? _"You know I do but you have to go."

He seemed to ignore her as he said, "Rey I need to see the map."

"I can't. Kylo Ren, he could see into my mind, he could be right now, we have to keep it safe from him. We need to leave!" _Help me! _She screamed in her mind to him as she began to pull herself off the platform and nearly fell as she overestimated her distance to the floor, however, his hand steadied her arm before she could fall and using both of his hands carefully placed her back against the platform.

Rey's vision was beginning to clear and she saw that his face held no emotion as he told her, "you're not going anywhere."

And then she slipped into unconsciousness once more.

She woke to find herself still being held against a platform however this time she was bounded by restraints. Although disorientated, her vision was mostly clear but she knew she hadn't dreamt seeing the voice, it couldn't have been a dream. Then she saw Kylo Ren huddled in the corner of the room. He didn't appear to move or make a sound as she stared at him.

"Where's my friend?"

"You mean that man who's been teaching you? Would you like to see him?" In his voice, there was an unexpected gentle tone but Rey knew that the First Order would torture him. They probably were right now. The thought caused Rey to outwardly tremble.

She swallowed. "What have you done with him?"

"You're so afraid, aren't you? You believe I want to kill you even though I could have done so already and saved myself a lot of time," he remained kneeling on the floor and it made Rey more afraid than if he was standing in front of her. He seemed almost vulnerable.

"Answer my question."

"Consider carefully now: I could tell you that he was being tortured or that I had killed him. But I haven't. I'm willing to make you a deal instead. In return for his life, you will show me the map," he said this as though it pained him but it was difficult for Rey to understand how the voice sounded through the mask.

Rey looked away from him. He really was a monster. She thought of the voice, if he was part of the resistance then he would see it as more important for Luke Skywalker to return. She knew him. "He wouldn't want me to do that."

"How do you know? Did you ask him?" His voice told her that he already knew the answer.

Then a thought began to plague her mind: what if he had escaped? Kylo Ren could be lying to her so that he could see the map. The voice could have escaped, but that would mean that he was here and that he left without her. He abandoned her like her parents. A tear fell from Rey's cheek as she considered this. _He wouldn't do that to me, would he?_

Seeing this, Ren stood and stopped in front of her and she willed herself to look up at him.

Where her inner strength came from she didn't know. "I told you before you are never going to see that map, I will never show it to you, so you can try to break me but it won't work, I have survived on my own for almost my entire life. I am not intimidated by you."

He moved closer as if to make her further anxious but as her face remained impassive he pulled back.

He sniffed disdainfully. "What is he your _friend_?" He seemed almost jealous.

"He's a pilot," Rey answered instinctively.

"For the resistance?"

She didn't reply and if sensing she was uncomfortable the mechanical voice continued, "what if he wasn't? What if he wasn't a hero?" He stopped for a moment and leaned closer to her as he whispered, "what if he was standing in front of you?"

"Don't use mind games. You are just a creature in a mask, you are nothing compared to him. You are a monster."

He didn't give her time to realise what she had said and fear for her life before he reached up, un-latched and removed his mask.

The man who looked back at her was thoughtful, kind, someone who she trusted with a narrow face and brown eyes. Not a monster. Not Kylo Ren.

"I… I don't understand," continuing to stare into his eyes, those hungry, needful eyes that she had stared into as she saw her future, "what's... what's going on?"

She didn't seem angry just confused, this gave Kylo hope that she would be able to accept who he was. "It's me, Rey, I'm Kylo Ren. I wanted to tell you sooner but I was afraid you would end the force bond when you found out."

"Whenever the force bonded us together, you would ask me my name and now you know it," he smiled at her as though she had achieved something through learning his name, "there were so many times I wanted to tell you, so many times I nearly did, I was just too afraid."

She stared at him disbelieving and seeing that she was making no attempt to reply, Kylo told her in a softer voice, "I didn't want to let you find out like this, they went against my orders when they caused you to flee from Jakku, I wanted to tell you when the Resistance was destroyed and the First Order had full control over the galaxy," she still just stared at him, he needed to know what she was thinking, "Rey, please, say something."

"Was it real?" He made an attempt to answer but she interrupted, "you have lied to me! You let me believe that you were fighting for the Resistance, that you were a hero. You're not a hero. You've killed people, not saved them!" She shouted at him causing him to appear stunned as her voice rose, "how can you appear so calm about your name when you know that I've heard the stories about you, about how you've slaughtered innocent people. I don't know you. You're a monster."

He looked hurt and his hand moved to touch her face, Rey wanted to scream, "please don't. If you touch me I'll be sick."

She looked away from him as he withdrew his hand from her but she could feel his pain. A tremulous wave of grief perforated through the force bond. Rey didn't know if it belonged to her or him. "Rey, please, I'm not like that. That's what the Rebels wants you to believe but it's not true. Trust me, please. I'm different from what they say about me. I'm still me it's just my name. That's why you fear me. You fear Kylo Ren but it's just a name."

"You've betrayed me. I trusted you and you broke that trust," Rey said finally allowing the tears to fall as she stared at the mask on the table behind him. In her mind the mask was the monster.

As though realising that she was still restrained, Kylo moved back and allowed the restraints to be undone but Rey didn't move, she remained where she was leaning against the platform, she couldn't bear to look at him. She knew if she did, she would see the man who had saved her life when her parents had abandoned her.

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A/N: I really hope that you liked this chapter! I'm really happy with how this turned out and prefer it a LOT more to the other two chapters, probably because it is mostly made up of interactions between Kylo and Rey. The story will get more interesting as it diverges from the Force Awakens and becomes more of an AU. I wrote this a lot quicker than I expected to so it may have a couple of mistakes and I'll probably have the next chapter up within the next couple of days.

Also, I'm expecting the next chapters to be about the same length as this one and if you have any suggestions for where this story should go from here then please let me know through reviewing! And if you want me to start using American spellings.

Thank you so much for reading, favoriting and following! Please review and if you have constructive criticism then this is always welcomed!

If you've noticed I've tried to link it to couples that parallel Reylo, for example, Kylo telling Rey that "it's just a name" links to Romeo and Juliet (what's in a name) and Rey saying "I don't understand" links to both Pride and Prejudice 2005 (the proposal scene) and TLJ (when Rey asks Kylo about his father).


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